THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 12-member special team of senior officers drawn from the local police, crime branch and special branch from across the state will probe the conspiracy and rioting charges registered against gold smuggling key accused Swapna Suresh and former MLA PC George. The duo was booked under bailable IPC sections by the Cantonment police on former minister K T Jaleel’s complaint on Wednesday.
Crime branch ADGP Sheikh Darvesh Saheb will monitor the probe by the team of 12 officers. Thiruvananthapuram crime branch SP S Madhusoodanan is the investigating officer. Kannur City Additional SP P P Sadanandan, who had revealed the confession by RSS worker Kuppi Subeesh that RSS cadre and not CPM workers killed NDF cadre Muhammed Fazal in Thalassery, is part of the team. The investigation by Sadanandan had lent a strong defence to CPM leaders Karayi Rajan and Karayi Chandrasekharan, the accused in the case.
Also among the 12 is DySP Amminikuttan, who was part of the crime branch team that carried out an investigation against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for allegedly arm-twisting the gold smuggling accused to give statements against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The probe had to be wound up after HC quashed the FIR on the ED’s plea.
The team has eight more officers in the rank of DySP or assistant commissioner: Abdul Rahim C A, Santhosh T R, Anil Kumar B, Abdul Shereef, V K Raju, Abhilash A, Raj Kumar P and K C Sethu. All of them are said to be in the good books of the CPM. Inspector Adam Khan A is 12th member. State police chief Anil Kant said the team will carry out a comprehensive probe.
Mediator claim needs to be probed, says Jaleel
Law and Order ADGP Vijay Sakhare said a conspiracy was suspected in Swapna’s recent allegations. Sakhare also denied Swapna’s allegations that he had tried to reach her through middleman Shaj Kiran. He said he did not know Shaj. The FIR by Cantonment police had said Swapna and George entered into a criminal conspiracy two months ago to defame the state government and the CM. It said Swapna, through the media, spread canards against the government and the CM and tried to mislead Opposition party workers to carry out organised riot in the state.
Jaleel said the police investigation should cover Swapna’s claim that a mediator approached her on the CM’s behalf. Ridiculing Swapna’s allegation that large biryani pots were transported from the former UAE consul-general’s house to the CM’s official residence, Jaleel said, “I have never seen the CM eating biryani. He does not like it. Swapna should have said the pots were sent to my home. Even lies should sound believable.” Jaleel also alleged that BJP and RSS were silencing many people using the ED.
HC bins anticipatory bail plea of Swapna, Sarith
Kochi: The High Court has closed proceedings in the anticipatory bail plea filed by Swapna and P S Sarith in the case registered on charges of provocation with an intention to cause a riot and conspiracy. The government said in court that the offences against Swapna are bailable.
‘Messenger pressured me to withdraw statement’
Swapna on Thursday alleged that Shaj Kiran, a person claiming to be a messenger of CM Pinarayi, met her in Palakkad and warned of police harassment if she did not withdraw the statement she gave in court. Shaj, a journalist-turned-real estate agent, denied threatening her and said they were close friends.